Buddy Guy walked up to the Tiny Desk and reminded everyone exactly why he’s the last man standing among the architects of the blues, opening with “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues” and “Hoochie Coochie Man” before being joined by Miles Caton, his co-star from the 16-time Oscar-nominated film ‘Sinners’, for a playful, powerful exchange that captures the full arc of a musical tradition passing between generations, with the 9-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wailing on his polka dot Stratocaster like a man who turns 90 this year and has absolutely nothing to prove and everything still left to play.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Chad Smith Takes On Keith Moon’s Iconic “Won’t Get Fooled Again” for Drumeo
Chad Smith walked into the Drumeo studio and took on one of the most demanding drum performances in rock history, and the result is exactly as compelling as that premise sounds. The Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer pays tribute to the one-and-only Keith Moon on The Who’s explosive “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” honouring the chaos, power, and personality of the original part while bringing his own unmistakable feel to every fill and crash along the way.
Nashville Alt-Pop Rising Star Caroline Romano Captures the Beautiful Chaos of Falling on EP ‘it took me falling’
Caroline Romano has been building toward this moment one honest song at a time, and ‘it took me falling’ delivers on every bit of that momentum. The 6-track EP is out now, a vivid snapshot of personal growth and resilience from the Mississippi-born, Nashville-based alt-pop singer-songwriter, and new single “Unsteady” captures its emotional centre with disarming simplicity. Listen here.
Built around plucky guitar and delicately vulnerable vocals, “Unsteady” is one of the EP’s most tender moments, unfolding like a sonic poem about the terrifying, transformative experience of letting yourself fall in love. Romano puts it directly: “It’s a song about falling in love and letting yourself do it. I’ve learned that love has made me soft and brave and terrified and happy, and so much more myself in ways I never knew before. I wanted to capture that discovery in ‘Unsteady.'”
That spirit of discovery runs through all 6 tracks. At its core, ‘it took me falling’ traces the search for the person, the love, or the dream you’ve been chasing, and the necessary pain that so often precedes something genuinely beautiful. Romano moves between misty-eyed tenderness and fiery alt-rock energy with the kind of ease that comes from years of refining exactly who she is as an artist.
Following her 16-track 2022 debut ‘Oddities and Prodigies’ and two subsequent EPs, ‘A Brief Epic’ (2023) and ‘How The Good Girls Die’ (2025), Romano has drawn praise from tmrw Magazine, idobi Radio, Ones To Watch, and EUPHORIA, packed out rooms across Nashville, and toured in support of Grayscale and Smallpools. ‘it took me falling’ is her sharpest, most emotionally focused release yet.
‘it took me falling’ Tracklist:
- Cruel and Unusual Punishment
- Up the Stairs
- Not Used to You
- There It Is
- Unsteady
- it took me falling
Dublin Alt-Pop Favorites Soda Blonde Announce First-Ever North American Tour and Drop Urgent New Single “Suit & Tie”
Soda Blonde are heading to North America for the first time, and they’re arriving with a new single that makes the strongest case yet for why this Dublin alt-pop outfit has been building one of the most devoted fanbases in Irish music. “Suit & Tie” is out now, built around industrial guitar, liquid production, and a relentless forward pulse, and it’s one of the most focused, emotionally direct tracks the band has released.
Vocalist Faye O’Rourke explains the song’s origins with real candour. “I wrote ‘Suit & Tie’ about my own feelings of un-belonging and displacement. I didn’t grow up with a strong sense of national identity and I began to explore my current feelings of loss and isolation through that lens while living in the Liberties, a part of Dublin with a very strong sense of itself. The song became a way of reclaiming something I felt I’d lost.”
That tension between identity and belonging has always been close to the centre of Soda Blonde’s songwriting, and “Suit & Tie” channels it into something urgent and physical, inspired by Ireland’s recent cultural resurgence and shaped by the friction of existing between worlds.
Formed in Dublin in 2019 by members of Little Green Cars, the band has spent 3 studio albums building a reputation for emotionally charged performances and immersive sound that has steadily grown an international following. 2025 accelerated everything, with packed SXSW shows, a UK and European tour, the ‘People Pleaser’ EP, and a landmark live orchestral project with Ireland’s National Symphony Orchestra at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, captured in both a concert film and a live album. Both that release and ‘People Pleaser’ reached number 2 on the Irish Independent Charts.
The first-ever North American tour runs September 11 through October 9, covering 21 dates across the US and Canada, from Detroit and Toronto through Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and more.
US & Canada Tour 2026:
September 11 – Detroit, MI, Third Man Records (Cass Corridor)
September 12 – Toronto, ON, Longboat Hall
September 14 – Boston, MA, The Red Room at Cafe 939
September 15 – Brooklyn, NY, Baby’s All Right
September 16 – Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda’s
September 17 – Washington, DC, Union Stage
September 18 – Pittsburgh, PA, Club Café
September 19 – Columbus, OH, Rumba Café
September 21 – Chicago, IL, Schubas
September 22 – Madison, WI, High Noon Saloon
September 23 – Minneapolis, MN, 7th St. Entry
September 27 – Seattle, WA, Sunset Tavern
September 28 – Vancouver, BC, Fox Cabaret
September 29 – Portland, OR, Mississippi Studios
October 1 – San Francisco, CA, The Chapel
October 2 – Santa Cruz, CA, The Crepe Place
October 3 – Los Angeles, CA, The Echo
October 4 – Phoenix, AZ, Valley Bar
October 6 – Denver, CO, Larimer Lounge
October 8 – Kansas City, MO, Record Bar
October 9 – St. Louis, MO, Off Broadway
Lolo Zouaï Reconnects With Her Roots and Herself on Stunning New Album ‘Reverie’
Lolo Zouaï has never made a record quite like ‘Reverie’, and that’s saying something for an artist who has always defied easy categorization. The genre-bending third studio album is out now via Because Music, a 14-track journey through wounds, memories, and dreams from an artist born in Paris, raised in San Francisco, and shaped by her Algerian roots, singing equally in French and English with touches of Arabic throughout.
New performance “Desert Rose pt 2” via A COLORS SHOW gives the album’s emotional core its most intimate expression yet. The track is the second part of her breakout 2019 single “Desert Rose,” and it speaks of inherited, invisible wounds alongside the strength to resist and bloom in the desert. It links the personal and the collective, connecting post-colonial memory and identity to something deeply felt and deeply private.
‘Reverie’ finds Zouaï reinventing herself after years of silence, grief, and rebirth. The production moves fluidly through alternative R&B, hip-hop, pop, and Arabic influences, creating dark, sensual, and cinematic textures across the album’s full runtime. “Holding On” processes the loss of her best friend. “3AM in San Francisco,” praised by The FADER and Rolling Stone, fuses airy vocals with punchy trap production while shifting between English and French. French-language collaborations with Dinos on “Les Mots,” Lous and the Yakuza on “Lemon Squeeze,” and Disiz on “Coquelicot” give the album a rich cultural and linguistic dimension that few artists working today could pull off with such fluency.
Zouaï has accumulated over 600 million streams, toured in support of Dua Lipa alongside Caroline Polachek on the 2022 world tour, headlined her own PLAYGIRL World Tour in 2023, and built fashion collaborations with Nike, Coach, Dior, YSL, Chanel, and Reebok. Her songwriting credits include tracks for K-pop stars NewJeans and H.E.R.’s Grammy-winning self-titled album. ‘Reverie’ is the record where all of that experience, all of that cultural navigation, and all of that hard-won self-knowledge converges into something that feels genuinely essential.
‘Reverie’ Tracklist:
- Holding On
- Angel, Give Them Hell
- 100
- Les mots (feat. Dinos)
- Baggy Jeans
- Drive
- Hiver, j’espère
- Toute seule à la plage
- Lemon Squeeze (feat. Lous and the Yakuza)
- Coquelicot (feat. Disiz)
- 3AM in San Francisco
- Tu me manques
- Desert Rose pt. 2
- Si j’avais des ailes
Social Distortion Return With a Vengeance on Long-Awaited Eighth Album ‘Born To Kill’
15 years is a long time to wait, and ‘Born To Kill’ was worth every one of them. Social Distortion’s eighth studio album is out now via Epitaph Records, and it’s exactly what anyone who has followed Mike Ness for more than 4 decades has needed: 11 songs of pure, unadulterated rock and roll fury, joy, and catharsis, built on the signature blend of defiance and world-weariness that has made Ness a poet and sage to the dispossessed since the early 1980s. Listen here.
The album is Social Distortion’s first since Ness’ recovery from cancer, and it brims with aggressive optimism that feels genuinely earned. The title track wastes no time declaring its intentions, dropping nods to Lou Reed, Iggy and the Stooges, and David Bowie across its opening salvos. “Partners In Crime” follows with an homage to Bowie’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.” “Tonight” and “The Way Things Were” deliver emotionally charged reminiscences that sit comfortably alongside classics like “Story of My Life” and “I Was Wrong.”
Co-produced by Ness and Dave Sardy, ‘Born To Kill’ features guest appearances from Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Lucinda Williams, adding real depth and texture to a record that already carries decades of earned credibility. The cover art, a collaborative effort between Ness and Shepard Fairey, is as iconic as the music deserves.
The album joins a catalog that includes Mommy’s Little Monster (1983), Prison Bound (1988), the RIAA gold-certified Social Distortion (1990), Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell (1992), White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996), Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll (2004), and Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes (2011). ‘Born To Kill’ is the latest and most hard-fought chapter in that remarkable run.
A massive North American fall tour supports the release, running August 25 through October 3 with The Descendents and The Chats along for most dates. 23 shows across 21 cities, from Phoenix to Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
North America Fall 2026 Tour Dates:
August 25 – Phoenix, AZ, Arizona Financial Theatre
August 28 – Austin, TX, Moody Amphitheater
August 29 – Dallas, TX, The Bomb Factory
August 31 – Nashville, TN, The Pinnacle
September 1 – Atlanta, GA, Coca-Cola Roxy
September 3 – Raleigh, NC, The Ritz
September 4 – Washington, DC, The Anthem
September 5 – Asbury Park, NJ, The Stone Pony Summer Stage
September 8 – Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia
September 9 – Boston, MA, Roadrunner
September 11 – Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Paramount
September 12 – Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Paramount
September 14 – Toronto, ON, HISTORY
September 17 – Detroit, MI, The Fillmore Detroit
September 20 – Minneapolis, MN, The Armory
September 22 – Denver, CO, The Mission Ballroom
September 23 – Salt Lake City, UT, The Union Event Center
September 25 – Las Vegas, NV, The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan
September 26 – Reno, NV, Grand Sierra Resort, Grand Theatre
September 28 – San Francisco, CA, The Masonic
October 1 – Los Angeles, CA, Hollywood Palladium
October 2 – Los Angeles, CA, Hollywood Palladium
October 3 – San Diego, CA, Gallagher Square at Petco Park
Most dates with The Descendents and The Chats. Hollywood Palladium dates with The Descendents only.
LA Chamber-Pop Songwriter Beatrix Haunts Her Own Past on Stunning Sophomore Album ‘We Swallowed The Sky’
Arielle Kasnetz has found her voice, and ‘We Swallowed The Sky’ is the fullest expression of it yet. The sophomore album from her LA-based orchestral indie rock and chamber-pop project Beatrix is out now via Nice Life, a striking, off-kilter collection that moves from hushed piano numbers to loud full-band blasts with the confidence of a songwriter who has stopped telling anyone else’s story.
New single “Class Reunion” arrives alongside an official video that feels like Twin Peaks meets The Office, set in a sterile community center. The track showcases Kasnetz at her storytelling best, painting a precise, novelistic picture of 2 exes running into each other after 10 years. He sips a gin and tonic in the corner, working up the nerve to say hello. The conversation is brief and awkward. He fumbles, feels his chance slipping, starts to have a panic attack. Everyone laughing in slow motion. Then he wakes up, and she’s gone. It was a nightmare. But one thing is true: no one loves him like she did.
That kind of narrative specificity runs through the entire album. ‘We Swallowed The Sky’ follows a ghost, the ghost of a long-gone relationship allowed to haunt its former love, embodied musically by a pedal steel that weaves between past, present, and future across the record. Where Kasnetz has often felt misunderstood, this is the most fully herself she has ever sounded on record.
The musicians assembled around her are extraordinary. Co-produced by Philip Etherington and Ehren Ebbage, the album features Harrison Whitford of Phoebe Bridgers’ band and Ryan Lerman, known for his work with John Legend and Vulfpeck, on guitars; Sean Hurley, who has played with John Mayer, on bass; Rob Humphries of Kacey Musgraves’ band on drums; Zac Rae, known for Death Cab For Cutie and Fiona Apple, on piano; Greg Leisz, the celebrated pedal steel player whose credits include Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell; CJ Camerieri, known for Paul Simon and Bon Iver, on horns; Jesse Chandler of Midlake on woodwinds; and Rob Moose, who has arranged strings for Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift, and Jay-Z.
It’s a production team that matches the ambition of the songs completely, and ‘We Swallowed The Sky’ is the result: moving, raw, perfectly crafted, and unmistakably Beatrix.
Nashville Outlaw Country Siren India Ramey Claims Her Territory on Bold New Album ‘Villain Era’
India Ramey has stopped shrinking herself to please everyone else, and ‘Villain Era’ is the album that says so at full volume. Out now via Copaco/Blue Élan Records, the Nashville outlaw country siren’s new LP is a cinematic, spaghetti western-meets-honky-tonk collection written entirely by Ramey and recorded with 2-time Grammy-nominated producer Eric Corne in Los Angeles. It doesn’t ask for permission. It claims its ground. Listen here.
The album arrives with 2 singles that establish its full emotional range. “Scattered and Smothered” is a laid-back, tongue-in-cheek Waffle House confessional about a woman feeling stifled by a good man and needing to break free, carried by an easy train beat, classic country pedal steel, and twangy bright guitars. “Welcome to My Villain Era” swings in the opposite direction, a lively honky-tonk burner with hints of Loretta Lynn’s fire and Wanda Jackson’s swagger, a sassy fiddle, and a clear declaration from a woman done suffering fools. “If my boundaries offend you,” Ramey says, “I’ll happily play the villain in that story.”
Ramey told Corne she wanted the record to sound like Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn rose from the grave to score a Quentin Tarantino film. The production team assembled to bring that vision to life is serious: Eugene Edwards of Dwight Yoakam’s band on guitar, Chris Masterson of The Wallflowers on guitar, and Eleanor Whitmore of Steve Earle’s band on fiddle. The result is exactly as bold and cathartic as that premise demands.
Following 2024’s ‘Baptized By The Blaze’, which chronicled a hard-won journey through trauma, healing, and survival, ‘Villain Era’ finds Ramey rooted in reckoning and self-possession. Fans have dubbed her “The Woman in Black” and “the Wednesday Addams of country music,” and she’s leaned fully into both descriptions. ‘Villain Era’ balances grit, gallows humor, and joy as resistance, from a woman who has earned every word of it.
LA Pop-Metal Outfit S8NT ELEKTRIC Arrive Loud and Fearless on Debut Album ‘OFF THE EDGE’
S8NT ELEKTRIC don’t fit anywhere neatly, and that’s entirely the point. The LA-based pop-metal outfit’s debut album ‘OFF THE EDGE’ is out now via Long Branch Records, a 10-track statement from a band built on an ethos of adventure, growth, and the deliberate rejection of rock and roll self-destruction. Listen here.
New single “HOW 2 FEEL” arrives alongside the album announcement and marks a genuine milestone for the band. Combining the upbeat, catchy melodies of pop with brutal riffs, emotional guitar solos, and screaming incorporated for the first time, the track captures S8NT ELEKTRIC at the intersection of everything they’ve been building toward.
The band frames the song’s meaning directly. “‘HOW 2 FEEL’ is the first song that has really shown exactly what pop-metal is. The song is about who we are when things are not going our way. Who are we when life is giving us its worst? We all feel like this is where our sound was headed and we just made the mark.”
Founded by frontwoman Bri Carbajal and guitarist, songwriter, and producer Niko Tsangaris, S8NT ELEKTRIC have built their reputation through sheer commitment to the experience they create, on record and on stage. Known for pulling off stunts including truck surfing, skydiving, being circled by drift cars, and fire-spitting, their live show backs up the album’s go-all-in philosophy completely.
The band has toured Europe every summer, opening for Wolfmother, Mammoth WVH, MC5, Dirty Honey, and WARGASM, and played major festivals including Bottlerock, Rockville, Prague Rocks, and Azkena Rocks. ‘OFF THE EDGE’ is the debut that puts all of that stage time on record for the first time, with Carbajal, Tsangaris, Trey Baker on drums, Sinner on guitar, and Harrison Forsythe on bass delivering a fully realized introduction to a band that sounds like nobody else working in this space.
‘OFF THE EDGE’ Tracklist:
OFF THE EDGE
CATACOMBS
HOW 2 FEEL
PEACE OF MYSELF
UNDER THAT SMILE
MIRROR_IMAGE
XTC
SEASONS OF YESTERDAY
THE RIVER
N.E.T.N.
Finnish Metal Rising Stars Rioghan Deliver a Stunning New Chapter With “Chapter IV: 520” and the ‘Frozen EP’
Rioghan have been building toward this moment one chapter at a time, and the ‘Frozen EP’ is their most fully realized statement yet. Out now, the 5-track release is conceived as one continuous composition, blending modern metal, dark pop, and progressive hooks into a cohesive emotional arc inspired by poetry written by vocalist Rioghan Darcy.
New single “Chapter IV: 520” arrives alongside a stunning music video, and it’s one of the EP’s most infectious highlights. The title draws from internet slang, where 520 means “I love you,” and within the EP’s storyline the track plays a pivotal narrative role, arriving at the moment a frozen heart cautiously opens the door and invites love back in.
Darcy explains the EP’s emotional journey with clarity. “The EP is about very brief but meaningful moments. At first, a frozen heart reaches a point where it dares to open up and slowly begins to warm. The ice starts to melt, and after shedding its first tears, the heart cautiously opens the door and invites love back in. Ultimately, it represents letting go of the themes explored on the ‘Kept’ album. It marks the end of one era and the beginning of another.”
Recorded and mixed by guitarist Teemu Liekkala and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Robin Schmidt, the EP is available digitally and in an extraordinarily limited physical edition of just 25 vinyl copies, divided into 5 separate 5-copy editions each with different cover artwork. Each exclusive package includes a necklace, signed poster, and a hand-written sheet of lyrics.
The June 6 appearance at the inaugural Ankea Festival in Tampere remains on the calendar, where Rioghan will share the stage with Katatonia, Leprous, Textures, and Green Carnation. Guitarist Liekkala puts the band’s excitement plainly. “We’d probably be there together even if we weren’t performing!”
‘Frozen EP’ Tracklist:
- Frozen
- Moment
- Teardrop
- 520
- Sky
Upcoming Show:
June 6 – Ankea Festival, Tampere